Events in History
- 141 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
Event of Interest
1616 Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
Walter Raleigh
- 1627 France & Spain sign accord for fighting protestantism
Appointment of Interest
1664 Scientist Robert Hooke is appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London
Robert Hooke
- 1697 Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"
- 1703 Akō incident: 46 of the 47 surviving Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death in Edo
- 1739 Iranian ruler Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne
- 1760 Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
- 1774 The British parliament passes first of the Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston harbor until colonists would pay for damages following the Boston Tea Party
- 1800 French army defeats Turks at Helipolis & advance to Cairo
Scientific Discovery
1800 Alessandro Volta reports his discovery of the electric battery in a letter to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London
Alessandro Volta
Joseph Banks
Napoléon Bonaparte
Historic Publication
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published in Boston
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Event of Interest
1868 Jesse James Gang robs a bank in Russellville, Kentucky, of $14,000
Jesse James
- 1883 Unity treaty of Paris signed: protects industrial property
- 1885 Jan Ernst Matzeliger received patent number 274,207 for his lasting machine which creates wood or stone molds of customers' feet
- 1886 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation in Massachusetts
- 1890 General Federation of Women's Clubs founded in the United States
- 1896 Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens
- 1896 Uprising in Matabeleland
- 1897 1st US orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in NY
Treaty of Interest
1897 France signs treaty with Emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
Menelik II
- 1900 US Secretary of State John Hay announces that all nations to whom he sent notes calling for an 'open door' policy in China have essentially accepted his stand
- 1902 France and Russia issue a joint declaration that approves the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but stipulates that they have the right to protect interests in China and Korea
Event of Interest
1906 George Bernard Shaw's "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" premieres in London
George Bernard Shaw
Meeting of Interest
1917 After the sinking of 3 more American merchant ships, US President Woodrow Wilson meets with cabinet, who agree that war is inevitable
Woodrow Wilson
- 1920 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (took 1½ months)
- 1920 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld
- 1921 Upper Silesia votes for amalgamation with Germany in a plebiscite that is 63% in favor
- 1922 USS Langley is commissioned, US Navy's 1st aircraft carrier
- 1922 WIP-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions
- 1923 Bavarian minister of interior refuses to forbid Nazi Sturm Abteilung
- 1923 Belgian Senate rejects Dutch University in Ghent
- 1924 Finnair begins scheduled flight of Helsinki-Tallinn
- 1930 Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph
Event of Interest
1930 American fast food restaurant chain "KFC" [Kentucky Fried Chicken] is founded by Colonel Harland Sanders in North Corbin, Kentucky
Colonel Sanders
Battle of Interest
1937 Franco offensive at Guadalajara, Spain
Francisco Franco
'I Shall Return'
1942 General Douglas MacArthur vows "I came through and I shall return" after escaping Japanese-occupied Philippines
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- 1942 Major German assault on Malta
- 1943 German U-384 bombed & sinks
- 1944 2,500 women trample guards and floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois department store
- 1944 Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16
- 1945 US 70th Infantry Division captures Saarbrucken, immediately prior the invasion of Germany by the western Allies
- 1947 180 tonne blue whale (record) caught in South Atlantic
- 1951 Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
- 1951 Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded
- 1952 Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan by US Senate
- 1954 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)
- 1956 E Ochab succeeds Beirut as 1st secretary of Polish CP
- 1956 Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes
- 1956 Tunisia gains independence from France
- 1956 USSR performs nuclear test
- 1956 Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp
- 1957 Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it
- 1958 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon line
- 1958 Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting
- 1958 Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission
- 1963 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)
- 1964 ESRO established, European Space Research Organization
- 1965 Venkataraghavan takes 8-72 v NZ at Delhi
Historic Publication
1965 Civil and Women's Rights Activist Dorothy Height has her first column published in the weekly African-American newspaper called the "New York Amsterdam News"
Dorothy Height
Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1968 Military intervene in South-Yemen (leftist ministers resign)
Event of Interest
1971 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark resigns in protest at what he views as a limited security response by the British government
James Chichester-Clark
- 1972 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche
- 1972 S Mansholt succeeds Malfatti as chairman of European Committee
- 1972 Donegall Street bombing: the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonate its first car bomb on Donegall Street in Belfast; four civilians, two RUC officers and a UDR soldier killed while 148 people were wounded
- 1974 "The Super Cops" directed by Gordon Parks premieres in NYC, New York
- 1976 Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.70)
- 1976 Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery
- 1977 Communists and socialists win French municipal elections
Election of Interest
1977 Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as 1st mayor in a century
Jacques Chirac
Election of Interest
1977 Premier Indira Gandhi loses election in India
Indira Gandhi
Birthdays in History
- 43 BC Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso], Roman poet (Metamorphoses)(d. 17)
- 1469 Princess Cecily of York (d. 1507)
- 1477 Jerome Emser, German theologian (d. 1527)
- 1502 Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
- 1634 Balthasar Bekker, Frisian theologist (Examiner of Comets)
- 1644 Ivan Mazepa, Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate (d. 1709)
- 1725 Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1789)
- 1728 Franciscus L Kersteman, Dutch lawyer/astrologist
- 1735 Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (d. 1784)
- 1737 Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, King of Thailand (d. 1809)
- 1741 Jean Antoine Houdon, French sculptor (d. 1828)
- 1750 Martinus van Marum, Dutch chemist/physicist (Homo Diluvii Testus)
- 1770 Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (d. 1843)
- 1799 Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet (d. 1839)
- 1804 Neal Dow, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Portland, Maine (d. 1897)
- 1811 George Caleb Bingham, American politician/painter (Country Election)
- 1811 Napoleon FKJ Bonaparte II, Napoleon's son/King of Rome
- 1812 George Bibb Crittenden, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1880)
- 1820 Alexander J Cuza, monarch of Moldavia/Wallachia/Romania
- 1823 John Echols, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1896)
- 1823 Ned Buntline, American publisher (d. 1886)
- 1825 William Nelson Rector Beall, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
- 1826 Carel Vosmaer, Dutch art historian/poet/editor
Henrik Ibsen
1828 Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler), born in Skien, Norway (d. 1906)
Henrik Ibsen
- 1830 Eugene Asa Carr, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Hamburg, New York (d. 1910)
- 1831 Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman (d. 1881)
- 1834 Charles William Elliot, President of Harvard (1869-1909), born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1836 Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American military officer and politician (US Representative from New York 1881-83), born in Delhi, New York (d. 1886)
- 1836 Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (d. 1919)
- 1840 Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
Frederick Winslow Taylor
1856 Frederick Winslow Taylor, American mechanical engineer and the father of scientific management, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1915)
Frederick Winslow Taylor
- 1856 Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (d. 1941)
- 1868 Obe Postma, Frisian poet/geography/historian (Frisian Clay Farm)
- 1870 Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Prussian general and politician (East Africa)
- 1872 Karin Michaelis, writer
- 1874 Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (d. 1945)
- 1876 Payne Whitney, American businessman (d. 1927)
- 1879 Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (d. 1960)
- 1881 Eugène Schueller, French chemist, founder of L'Oréal, born in Paris, France (d. 1957)
- 1882 René Coty, Le Harve France, president of France (1953-58)
- 1885 Eugen Herrigel, German philosopher/early pioneer of Zen in Europe
- 1885 Hendrik A de Fish [Henri Pauwels], Flemish philological/sociologist
- 1888 Siegfried von Vegesack, German writer, born in Gut Blumbergshof, Latvia (d. 1974)
- 1895 Fredric Wertham, German-born psychologist (d. 1981)
- 1896 Hal Walker, director (I Married Joan), born in Ottumwa, Iowa
- 1902 Kathryn Forbes, short story writer (mama's bank account)
- 1904 B F Skinner, American psychologist (Skinner Box), born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania (d. 1990)
- 1906 Abraham Beame, (Mayor-D-NYC), NYC's 1st Jewish mayor
- 1906 Pavel P Parenago, Russian astronomer
- 1911 Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
- 1914 William Baddeley, rector (St James's Piccadilly)
- 1915 Rudolf Kirchschläger, President of Austria (d. 2000)
- 1916 Pierre Messmer, PM (France)
- 1917 Dolf Verspoor, literary/interpreter (M Nijhoff Prize 1958)
- 1917 Peter Caddy, founder (Findhorn Community)
- 1918 Jack Barry, Lindenhurst NY, game show emcee (Joker's Wild)
- 1918 Donald Featherstone, British writer and wargamer
- 1920 Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician
- 1921 Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, Senegal, director general (UNESCO)
- 1922 Arnold Burgen, college president (Academia Europaea)
- 1922 Doug Barnard Jr, (Rep-D-GA, 1977- )
- 1923 Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani Author, Journalist and Political Activist (d. 2006)
- 1924 Hermann Guggiari, Paraguay, engineer and sculptor (Rejas, NNUU)(d.2012)
- 1925 John D Erlichman, Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate)
- 1925 David Warren, Australian scientist and inventor (Flight Data Recorder; Cockpit Voice Recorder - "the black box"), born in Groote Eylandt, Australia (d. 2010)
- 1928 Anthony Blond, British publisher (The Publishing Game, Book Book), born in Sale, Cheshire (d. 2008)
- 1931 John Rae, British educator (Conscience & Politics)
- 1933 David James Moore, educationalist
- 1933 Alexander Gorodnitsky, Russian geologist and poet
- 1934 Eric Hebborn, artist/faker
- 1934 Marion Conti, arch bishop (Aberdeen England)
- 1934 Willie Brown, American Democratic politician and 41st Mayor of San Francisco (1996-2004), born in Mineola, Texas
- 1934 David Malouf, Australian author
- 1937 Elizabeth Gille, writer translator/editor
- 1937 Mark Saville, QC, British high court judge
- 1938 Frans J. van der Heijden, Dutch politician (CDA)
- 1938 Sergei Petrovich Novikov, Russian Mathematician, Fields Medalist
Brian Mulroney
1939 Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (1984-93), born in Baie-Comeau, Quebec
Brian Mulroney
- 1940 Gianpiero Moretti, steering wheel designer (Momo), born in Milan, Italy (d. 2012)
- 1943 Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer
- 1943 Naima Neidre, Estonian graphic artist
- 1945 Tim Yeo, British MP/under-sect (State of Environment)
- 1945 Henry Bartholomay, American fighter pilot
- 1947 John Eastburn Boswell, medievalist
- 1948 Pamela Sargent, American sci-fi author (Venus of Dreams, Cloned Lives), born in Ithaca, New York
- 1951 Curt Smith, American author and media host
- 1954 Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician
- 1956 Phillip Oppenhein, British MP
- 1957 David Foster, Australian woodchopper
- 1969 Thang Thanh Nguyen, Soc Trang Vietnam, murderer (FBI Most Wanted)
- 1969 Mannie Fresh, American producer
- 1971 Touré, American writer
- 1971 Chad Michaels, American drag queen and Cher impersonator (RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars winner), born in San Diego, California
- 1973 Christopher Heinz, American businessman; son of Teresa Heinz
- 1974 Andrzej Pilipiuk, Polish writer
- 1984 Justine Ezarik, American Internet personality
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1878 53rd UK Prime Minister Archibald Primrose (31) weds heiress Hannah de Rothschild (27) at the Board of Guardians in Mount Street, London
Archibald Primrose
Deaths in History
- 687 St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria (b. c. 634).
- 842 Alfonso II the Chaste, king of Asturia (791-842), dies
- 1191 Clement III [Paolo Scolari], Pope (1187-91, 3rd crusades), dies
- 1239 Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (c. 1179)
- 1351 Mohammed ibn-Tughluq, sultan of Delhi India, dies
- 1393 Johannes Nepomucenus [Jan Nepomucky], Czech saint, killed
Henry IV of England
1413 Henry IV of England, King of England and Lord of Ireland (1399-1413), dies at 45
Henry IV of England
Albert of Prussia
1568 Albert of Prussia, 1st Duke of Prussia, dies at 77
Albert of Prussia
- 1586 Richard Maitland, Scottish statesman and historian (b. 1496)
- 1617 Franciscus Aguilon, physicist/theologist/mathematician, dies at 50
- 1619 Matthias II, Holy Roman Catholic emperor (1611-19), dies
- 1646 Matthew Vossius, historian (Annales Holland Zelandiaeque), dies at 35
- 1673 Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior, dies at 69
- 1703 Johann Kunckel/Kunkel, German alchemist/ambassador to Sweden, dies
- 1732 Johann Ernst Hanxleden, German philologist (b. 1681)
- 1746 Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (b. 1656)
- 1751 Frederick Louis, English prince of Wales and son of George II, dies at 44
- 1767 Firmin Abauzit, French scholar and scientist, dies at 87
- 1780 Sir Benjamin Truman - English brewer (b. 1699/1700)
- 1793 William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1705)
- 1816 Maria I of Portugal, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves, dies at 81
- 1835 Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
- 1848 Abraham des Amorie van der Hoeven, Dutch theologist/poet, dies at 27
- 1855 Joseph Aspdin, English mason and inventor (b. 1788)
- 1865 Keisuke Yamanami, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
- 1875 John Mitchel, Irish nationalist (Jail Journal), dies at 59
- 1878 Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (first law of thermodynamics), dies at 63
- 1890 Alexander F. Mozhaiski, Russian aviation pioneer, dies at 65
- 1894 Lajos Kossuth, Governor-President of Hungary (1849), dies at 91
- 1897 Apollon Maykov, Russian poet, dies at 76
- 1899 Martha M Place, American murderer who becomes 1st woman to be executed in an electric chair, dies at 49
- 1899 Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist, dies at 77
- 1910 Nadar [Félix Tournachon], French photographer and balloonist, took the first aerial photograph, dies at 89
- 1916 Ota Benga, Congolese pygmy (b. 1884)
- 1918 Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (b. 1828)
- 1920 Venustiano Carranza, president Mexico (1915-20), murdered at 60
- 1925 George N Curzon, British Foreign minister (1919-22), dies at 66
- 1929 Ferdinand Foch, French Allied military commander and marshal of France during WW I, dies at 77
- 1931 Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
- 1932 Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, Russian biologist (artificial insemination of animals), dies at 61
- 1933 Giuseppe [Joe] Zangara, electrocuted for assassination attempt on FDR
- 1934 Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen consort of William and Regent of the Netherlands, dies at 76
- 1939 Percy Dean, British naval lieutenant and politician who received the Victoria Cross for saving men during the raid of Zeebrugge, dies at 61
- 1940 Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
- 1941 D A van den Bosch, anti-nazi clergyman (Amersfoort Camp), dies
- 1950 Walter Eucken, German economist, dies at 59
- 1953 Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian author (Vidas Secas), dies at 60
- 1956 Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian politician and 3rd President of Austria (1928-38), dies at 83
- 1962 C. Wright Mills, American sociologist and writer (The Power Elite), dies at 45
A. E. Douglass
1962 A. E. Douglass, American astronomer and inventor of dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) dies at 94
A. E. Douglass
- 1963 Karl Otten, German Expressionist writer, dies at 73
Brendan Behan
1964 Brendan Behan, Irish author and poet (Borstal Boy, The Hostage), dies at 41
Brendan Behan
- 1967 A J F Moody, 1st US Army General to die in Vietnam
- 1968 Carl T Dreyer, Danish director (Passion of Jeanne d'Arc), dies
- 1969 Henri Longchambon, French politician, dies at 72
- 1972 Jan Engelman, Dutch poet and art critic (At the Front), dies at 71
- 1974 [Lavinia] Marian Fleming Poe, African American advocate in Virginia, dies at 83
- 1979 Mino Pecorelli, Italian journalist, shot dead in Rome at 50
- 1982 Hendrik L van Beek, Dutch vice-admiral, dies at 52
- 1983 Ivan Vinogradov, Russian mathematician (analytic number theory), dies at 91
- 1990 Jannetje Visser-Roosendaal, Dutch writer, dies at 90
- 1991 Conor Clapton, Eric Clapton's son, falls to his death out of 53rd floor window at 5
- 1993 Claudia Yeltsin, mother of Russian president Yeltsin, dies at 85
- 1993 Jonathan Ball, English youngster, killed by IRA at 3
- 1995 Rachida Hammadi, Algerian TV journalist, murdered at 32
- 1995 Sidney Kingsley, US playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934), dies at 88
- 1995 James Kilfedder, Northern Ireland unionist politician, dies at 66
- 1996 Claude Bourdet, French human rights activist and journalist, dies at 86
- 1996 Victor Zorza, journalist/Russian specialist, dies at 71
- 1997 Carlo Fassi, figure skating coach (Fleming, Hamill), dies at 67
- 1997 Grace Hefner, mother of Hugh Hefner (Playboy), dies at 101
- 1999 Patrick Heron, British abstract painter, dies at 79
- 2004 Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands (1948-80), dies at 94
- 2004 Pierre Sévigny, Canadian military officer and politician, dies at 86
- 2007 Gilbert E. Patterson, presiding bishop of COGIC (b. 1939)
- 2007 Hawa Yakubu, Ghanaian politician (b. 1948)
- 2007 Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi politician (b. 1938)
- 2007 Raynald Fréchette, Quebec politician and judge, dies at 73
- 2010 Liz Carpenter, American feminist writer (b. 1920)
- 2010 Stewart Udall, American politician, environmentalist (b. 1920)
- 2010 Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepalese politician (b. 1925)
- 2012 Jim Stynes, Irish Australian rules footballer, dies from cancer at 45
- 2013 James Herbert, British horror writer, dies at 69
Malcolm Fraser
2015 Malcolm Fraser, Australian Prime Minister (Liberal, 1975-83), dies at 84
Malcolm Fraser
- 2015 Robert Kastenmeier, American politician (Rep-D-WI, 1959-91), dies at 91
- 2016 Anker Jørgensen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (1972-3, 75-82), dies at 93
- 2017 David Rockefeller, American CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank) and philanthropist, dies at 101
- 2017 George Weinberg, American psychotherapist (coined "homophobia"), dies at 87
- 2017 Leticia Ramos-Shahani, Filipino Senator, lawmaker and women's rights activist who led the drafting of the international women’s bill of rights, dies of colon cancer at 87